Stretch Marks
by Altra Palantir
Summary: Helen muses about her lack of normality after a visit to the pool with Dash.


Author's Note: The things we think up on vacation... I have no idea where this came from, but I hope you enjoy it. For reference, this takes place about five years before the movie. Bob doesn't work at Insuricare yet, they live in the house before the one in the movie, and Jack-Jack hasn't even been thought up. 

Disclaimer: This is not mine. I own nothing and profit from even less.

* * *

Stretch Marks

A teenage girl walked by in a pink and green-striped bikini. Four mothers sighed as she passed.

"I rememember when I could wear that," one mother commented wryly.

"Who knew that having kids would change your body so much?" the second replied.

"Yeah, no matter how many sit-ups I do, some marks just won't go away," A third chimed in. The three of them laughed, knowing they'd exchange flat stomachs for their children any day.

Helen Parr sighed, looking down at her plain, navy blue one-piece and then out at the pool where Das was playing with his friends. She didn't say anything. She didn't have any stretch marks. If she had truly wanted, she could have gotten away with wearing a bikini today. (Though not one that was pink and green striped. It would have clashed with her hair.)

Gaining thirty pounds or so for a baby was nothing to a stomach that could stretch thirty feet. She sighed again. Sometimes, it was so hard to relate to normal mothers...

"Depressing, isn't it?" asked the first woman.

"What?" Helen asked, snapping out of her reverie, "Oh, yeah." She smiled weakly.

"At least you've gotten your figure back," the second mother said, poking herself in the abdomen. "I've got about five pounds of pudge that won't go away."

The third mother was about to voice her agreement when Dash, dripping and shaking water everywhere, came bounding out of the pool and over to Helen's lawn chair.

"Mom! Mom! Mom! Will you watch me go off the diving board? I can make a bigger splash than Billy can, and he's taller than me! Will you watch me? Please?" he asked.

Helen laughed in spite of herself. "All right Dash. I'll sit right here and watch you."

"Yes!" he exclaimed and took off.

"Don't run near the pool!" Helen called after him, praying he would at least keep it to a normal human pace. She hoped that when he started school in the fall he would burn off at least some of his extra energy.

"He's a fast one," the third mother said. "I bet you have a hard time keeping up with him at home."

Helen winced, then realized that she hadn't seen anything unusual. She tried not to breath a sigh of relief. "You have no idea." she replied. "I miss the days when he used to nap."

"My Cindy still takes naps," the first mother said, "When did Dash stop?

"About the time he started walking." Helen laughed.

"And you've got another one too, don't you?"

"Bet that's a handful." said the third mother, who only had one child.

"Actually, Violet is pretty good. She's just started reading on her own, and she'd sit in her room all day if I'd let her."

"Your kids don't fight? My boys would be at each other's throats all day if I let them," said the first mother.

"Mine too." the second mother agreed.

"They do sometimes, but usually only when Dash tries to play with Violet's stuff. She's very particular about her room."

"How old is she?" the third mother asked.

"She'll be eight next week." Helen replied.

"Summer vacation hasn't started here yet?" the second mother asked. "My sister's kids got out yesterday."

"No, she's still at school." Helen froze, and checked her watch. "Shoot!" she exclaimed. "I've got to pick her up in fifteen minutes!" Excusing herself, she went to coax a reluctant Dash from the pool.

* * *

Helen was rather quiet all evening. She didn't say much at dinner, and she went to bed as soon as Dash finally fell asleep. She sighed as Bob sank into bed. 

"Are you all right, Honey?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah, Bob, I'm fine." she replied unconvincingly, stretching her arm around him to turn of the lamp on his side of the bed. Gently, he caught her wrist and stopped her.

"No, really. What's wrong?" The look on his face said he wouldn't stop until she answered.

"It's stupid, honestly." she stalled, "I'm not sure why..."

"Just tell me." he interrupted, rolling on his side to face her.

She sighed, "Don't laugh." She paused and he wisely didn't answer. "I took Dash to the pool today, because today was the first day it was open, and I was talking to several of the other mothers. They were complaining about thier bodies, and it was kind of depressing."

"Huh?" Bob asked, utterly confused.

"I don't have any stretch marks, Bob," she explained, exasperatedly.

"What are stretch marks?"

"I knew you wouldn't get it," she snapped. "They're these annoying, ugly little lines most women get when they have a baby, because their skin stretches out of shape."

Bob gaped for a moment. "And you're upset becuse you don't have ugly little lines on your stomach?"

"Yes! er... no!" Helen stammered. "I don't know." she sighed, then smiled. "Well, not when you put it that way."

"So you're not depressed about being the most beautiful woman in the world anymore?" he asked slyly, kissing her neck.

"Bob!" she exclaimed, not quite able to scold him. He kissed her again and this time, she kissed him back.

"Well," he replied, after a bit, "It is the truth."


End file.
